This will be our last Christmas post this year and we wish everyone a joyous day and trust that it brings peace wherever you are.  Since this season is a time of love, traditionally spent with families and special friends, we urge you all to spare a thought for all those that have no families and no special friends.  Many children will have no Christmas, no gifts, no sweets and certainly no joy and many of them will be starving – wherever you are, if it is at all possible, try to donate something,  no matter how small or insignificant it may seem to you,  to those that don’t have. In Greenland, the Polar Inuits, spend Christmas visiting one

another to celebrate this miraculous event. Greenlanders will  drink coffee, eat cakes and exchanged brightly wrapped parcels – traditional gifts are model sledges, pairs of polished walrus tusks or sealskin mittens. Everyone in the village gets a gift and children go from hut to hut, singing songs.  On Christmas Eve, Church Services will be held and most people attend dressed in national costumes with a small percentage of men wearing the white anoraks reserved for special occasions.

RASPBERRY DANISH PASTRY

Ingredients

• 625g strong white flour
• 1 tbsp salt
• 85g sugar
• 30g fresh yeast
• Water, to mix
• 500g butter, refrigerated
• 425 ml thick custard
• 125ml pureed raspberries
• 1 punnet of raspberries
• 100 g flaked almonds
• 1½ tbsp apricot jam

Method

• Put the flour, the sugar, the salt and the diluted yeast in a large bowl and then  mix in a little water  (slowly) until the dough becomes pliable.
• Place the dough on a floured surface and knead it well until it feels smooth and elastic and then put the dough back in the fridge for an hour.
• Put the chilled dough onto a floured surface and roll into a  rectangular, then flatten the refrigerated butter into a rectangle and lay it over two-thirds of the dough.
• Now, bringing  the uncovered one-third of the dough into the middle and repeat the process with the covered one-third of the dough, so that you now have 3 layers of dough – put it back into the fridge to chill for another hour.
• Sprinkle some more flour over your surface and roll out the dough so that you have the same sized rectangle as before.
• Repeat the folding process, one side on top of the other and put the dough back in the fridge for another hour – you’re going to have to do this twice more before you leave the dough, wrapped in cling wrap, over night (nobody said this was a ‘piece of cake’).
• The next morning the Danish dough is ready to use and begin by rolling it out to about 4mm thick and cut into a 30cm long x 12 cm wide pieces – if you haven’t got enough just  cut  them smaller – try 20cm x 15cm pieces.
• Chop the raspberries into quarters, add to the pureed raspberries and fold in the thick custard.
• Put this mixture down the middle of each of the long rectangles and fold one side on top of the other lengthways.
• With a knife cut lines into the dough width ways about 10cm apart all the way along and then brush with egg wash and sprinkle flaked almonds all over the top.
• Put the dough onto a parchmetn paper on a tray and leave to rise for an hour,  then bake at 200 C 20minutes until  they are golden brown.
• Cool the on a wire tray and cut into fingers along the width.
• Put 1½ tbsp of apricot jam in a small saucepan with a splash of water and bring up to boil and then brush this  onto the Danish pastries before serving.

Because there aren’t any Christmas trees in Greenland, fir trees have to be imported from Denmark and aren’t cheap – they’re exquisitely decorated on the 23^rd of December with candles, bright ornaments and often tiny little sealskin breeches (kamiks). However, occasionally a traditional driftwood tree is decorated with heather in it’s stead.  In the windows, an illuminated star will be hung – in fact,  in most homes and public buildings these stars take pride of place – bear in mind that inside the Arctic circle the sun doesn’t rise in the winter and the stars will bring light which symbolises the birth of Jesus that brought light to the world. Villages, where possible, place large Christmas trees on nearby hills so that everyone in the vicinity can see them in time for the beginning of Advent.

On the 13^th of December, St. Lucia’s day is celebrated here.

Christmas food in Greenland is unusual and a particular favourite is something called mattak that consists of whale skin with a strip of blubber inside – since it’s impossible to source these ingredients we won’t include the recipe here today. Kiviakk is the raw flesh of small auks (an arctic bird) – these birds are buried whole in sealskin for quite a few months and are a particular delicacy here. Suaasat is a thick soup of barbecued caribou, fish either as raw sushi or cooked and a popular desert is Berries and Apples with Crisp Topping. Lots of Danish pastries are also eaten!

SUAASAT

Ingredients

• 1 kg meat (seal, whale, reindeer or, for those of us who don’t live in Greenland, lamb or mutton cubed
• 2 litres water
• 200 ml Arborio rice or barley
• 3 large onions, chopped
• 1 large handful dried wild mushrooms
• 2 large carrots, sliced
• 200 ml dried (or fresh) cherries(optional, not traditional)
• 1 large lemon, grated zest only
• 1 tsp chopped rosemary leaves
• 1 tsp chopped thyme
• 1 tsp chopped sage
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

• Pour the water into a large pot and add the meat (as is), the vegetables, the cherries, the mushrooms, the salt and pepper to taste and the herbs and bring to a simmer, simmering on medium heat until tender (about an hour).
• Add rice (or the barley) and the lemon zest, check and correct the seasoning and cook until the soup is thick – another 15 – 30 minutes.

One of the most endearing Christmas traditions finds the men looking after the women on Christmas eve – they not only serve their food to them, they serve and stir their coffee!  After the Christmas meal, games begin whilst sitting around the table and the family bonds and laughs in a true Greenland Christmas style. The dish below is a favourite dessert and there’s little doubt that many of us will love it as well.

APPLE AND BERRY CRISP

Ingredients:

• 4 large cooking apples, peeled and sliced or coarsely chopped
• 500 ml  raspberries
• 250 ml  blueberries
• 100 ml granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp butter, grated
• 150 ml melted butter
• 100 ml brown sugar
• 200 ml cake flour, sifted
• ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 180 ml quick cooking rolled oats

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 180C and grease a oven dish.
• Combine the sliced apples, the berries, and the granulated sugar and toss them to coat, dot with the grated butter.
• Mix the melted butter with the brown sugar, the flour, the salt, the bicarbonate of soda and the rolled oats an sprinkle this mixture evenly over the fruit.
• Bake  until fruit is tender and topping is crunchy and golden brown.

The chief languages in Greenland are Greenlandic Inuit and Danish and Juullimi Ukiortaassamilu Pilluarit or the Danish, Glædelig Jul will be the standard greeting on Christmas Day. Children, the world over also know that this country is Santa’s summer holiday destination and he has his home in the north in Spraglebugten,near the town of Uummannaq!